Korean Job Discussion Forums

[judge-ing-na]

hi all,

I have to teach the teachers at my high school. In reality its a conversation class, but I'm working myself into a bit of a frenzy.

The first problem is what to teach.

The second is dealing with the teachers. They are all Korean Men, 40ish and VERY proud of their ability. They behave in a typical fashion, the older being the most respected etc. I have already been cautioned not to correct so-and-so as he is the English authority at the school.
What is their standard? Well....their pronunciation is terrible and they take forever to compile a sentence (which is usually incorrect in a number of areas).

I would really love to get some ideas.

Cheers

[FUBAR]

Give them the material ahead of time along with some basic followup questions that you will be discussing during the class. That way it will give them some time to think ahead about their answers.

Pronunciation. Do some pair work. You can say the words a few times and then explain how the sounds come out from your mouth. After that put them in pairs and have them correct each other. That way, the others can correct the old guy. All about passing the buck.

[sarahsarah]

Guess I'm lucky. This is supposed to be happening at my school, but all of the teachers are "too busy" to show up except for one. He's a young guy so I don't really have to deal with teaching the powers-that-be.

I was told by my Korean co-teacher that I definitely needed to work out of a text book or always have handouts. Apparently adult Koreans prefer learning this way.

[Grotto]

I use a book of Idioms. The teachers I teach find them interesting.
I also use movies, newspapers, current events and whatnot to stimulate conversation.

[FUBAR]

There is a good idiom website that you can print off to use.

Tomorrow when I get to school, I can send you the link if I remember or you send me a PM.

[tommynomad]

I make it very clear that if they want to hire a Canadian (me) to teach them, then they have to play by Canadian classroom rules, i.e.: egalitarianism inside the classroom, no Korean spoken, no racism. Some of the adjosshi's don't like being called by their first names, but since they don't have a choice, I'm assuming they get over it. They keep coming, after all.

[FUBAR]

yesterday the site had exceeded it's bandwidth so I couldnt access it until today.


http://www.englishdaily626.com/idioms.php

[marlow]

I'm teaching twelve middle school teachers, and their English is really good. I'm confident I have everything under control, but I really want to make sure my course is effective and stimulating.

Anyone have any good ideas for high level conversation classes?

I think I might have to go with newspaper articles, music, video, etc.

I'm considering question and answer discussion, where each week they are responsible for bringing a question about English, and we work on answers in groups.

Also I might do seminars where we work on teaching techniques. All the teachers, myself included, also teach middle schoolers, so we can help each other out.

[Zark]

I think marlow is right on track. Starting to give tasks to the students.

In most classes with higher level students - or even mid-level - I do my best to turn all responsibility over to the students. Preparing and organizing class - becomes their job - I, of course, serve as back up - and have material ready - just in case. But in graded classes - I make their grades fall so fast that they rarely don't come through. It usually take a few weeks of demonstration - and several more weeks of meeting with students outside class - but in the end it is a better experience for all involved.

Breaking the Korean thing of "teacher does it all - and I have no responsibility in making this class work" - is not easy - but not too difficult either.

[Zark]

Opps! Sorry - accidentally double posted - when a class of wine slipped from my paw.